Today in the MHSAA: 12/7/16
December 7, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Today’s report could be renamed “buzzer beaters” as the first full Tuesday of girls and boys basketball season produced plenty of gutsy deciding shots during the final seconds of play.
Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.
Girls Basketball
Ella Bontrager’s layup with three seconds to play after her steal with 21 seconds left gave Jackson Northwest a 44-42 win over Grass Lake – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Grace Reinhold’s game-winner gave Muskegon Oakridge a 47-45 win over Grand Haven – Muskegon Chronicle
Bloomfield Hills Marian emerged from its latest matchup of top Class A teams, downing Waterford Kettering 37-34 in overtime – Oakland Press
Mount Pleasant built an early 14-2 lead and held on to defeat McBain 44-39 – Cadillac News
Utica Eisenhower earned an impressive early-season victory downing Grosse Pointe South 53-42 – Macomb Daily
DeWitt came back to down East Lansing 59-58 in a matchup of top Lansing-area teams – WLNS
Boys Basketball
Battle Creek Pennfield downed Olivet 85-83 in overtime on Ronald Jamierson’s bucket with one second to play – Battle Creek Enquirer
Keyed by a strong perimeter shooting night by Carson Charvat, Three Rivers outlasted Niles 74-72 – Kalamazoo Gazette
Austin Harless’ free throws with three seconds to play gave Holly a 55-53 win over Flint Powers Catholic – Flint Journal
Ann Arbor Pioneer rose above playing without three injured starters to edge Southfield Christian 66-62 – Ann Arbor News
Lansing Waverly rode 21 second-half points from Jaden Sutton to a 51-47 comeback win over Holt – Lansing State Journal
Benton Harbor earned an impressive 57-36 win over Dowagiac in a matchup of frequent Class B powers – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
Hillman’s Gunnar Libby went over 1,000 points for his career scoring 30 in a 68-51 win over Cedarville – Alpena News
After going 1-20 last season, Troy Athens is 1-0 with a nail-biting 46-45 win over Rochester Adams – Oakland Press
Today in the MHSAA: 1/15/16
January 15, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Thursday provided a substantial appetizer for another big weekend with key basketball games, noteworthy swimming and diving finishes and a milestone wrestling victory.
Boys Basketball
Clarkston earned a key Oakland Activities Association Red edge with a win over similarly state-ranked North Farmington, 60-47 – Oakland Press
Frankfort earned a similarly important win in Northwest Conference play, winning a matchup of Class D ranked teams 65-55 over Buckley – Traverse City Record-Eagle
For the second straight day, a basketball team made an incredible comeback; this time, it was East Jackson building off a 21-2 deficit at the end of the first quarter to beat Napoleon 42-39 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Olivet junior Delbert Redfield made nine of 11 3-point tries and scored 33 points total to lead the Eagles to a 73-55 win over Lansing Christian – MLive Lansing
Girls Basketball
Warren Cousino handed Grosse Pointe North the latter’s first loss this season, 64-58, to move to 9-1 overall – Macomb Daily
Boys Swimming & Diving
Lower Peninsula Division 3 honorable mention Spring Lake downed No. 4 Hamilton, No. 5 Grand Rapids Christian and Division 2 honorable mention Holland in its best meet of a strong run so far – Grand Haven Tribune
Wrestling
Leslie defeated Olivet (and also lost to Lake Odessa Lakewood) on Thursday, giving Blackhawks coach Todd Stern his 400th career win since taking over as head coach in 1987 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Good Reads
Battle of the Fans V kicks off tonight with our first visit to Yale, a finalist as well in 2015 – Port Huron Times-Herald
Grand Haven’s basketball teams will return to their former gym now part of Lakeshore Middle School – Pirates Pit – on Feb. 6 and for the first time since 2007 as the high school gym will be used for the league wrestling meet – Grand Haven Tribune
Vanderbilt’s boys basketball team has one win this season, but it was the first in nearly two years and a testament to the rebuilding of the program under first-year coach Darren Conn and assistant Amie Byelich – Petoskey News